Intraday patterns of price clustering in Bitcoin

In this study, an investigation is conducted into the phenomenon of price clustering in Bitcoin (BTC) denominated in the Japanese yen (JPY). It answers two questions using tick-by-tick data. The first is whether price clustering exists in BTC/JPY transactions, and the other is how the scale of price clustering varies throughout a trading day. With the assistance of statistical measures, the last two digits of BTC price were discovered to cluster at the numbers that end with ’00’. In addition, the scales of BTC/JPY clustering at ’00’ tended to decline at the specific hour intervals. This study contributes to the emerging literature on price clustering and investor behavior.

Automation and ‘Thailand +1” Strategy of Japanese Companies in Thailand by Thai Engineers

<p><strong>Abstract</strong></p><p>Japanese companies have the second largest number of overseas manufacturing sites in Thailand after in China. To cope with labor cost increase, on one hand, they automate their production processes using robots. On the other hand, they establish satellite manufacturing sites in neighboring lower labor cost countries. This movement is called “Thailand+1” Strategy. The paper discusses these two movements comparing with the experiences of Japanese companies in Japan in the late 1980s coping with rapid Japanese Yen appreciation. The paper discusses that the automation in Thailand now is more systematic and needs system integrators and that local engineers need to be trained as system integrators since the technological operation in Thailand is already heavily localized. In the case of Japan in the late 1980s, shop-floor workers were needed to be mechatronics operators since individual machines became IT (Information Technology) -based. For the “Thailand +1” Strategy, only a part of production process, which is heavily labor-intensive, is moved out as a satellite factory, while in the case of Japan in the 1980s a whole assembling process was moved out and many parts suppliers followed. Another difference is that local engineers (Thai engineers) play an important role in technology transfer in the case of the “Thailand +1” Strategy, while Japanese engineers transferred technology to overseas factories in the case of Japanese companies in the late 1980s. Japanese companies have become globally operated from Japan-centered.</p><p> </p>Keywords: Automation, Thailand+1 Strategy, Japanese Companies, Thai Engineers

External Shocks and Volatility Overflow among the Exchange Rate of the Yen, Nikkei, TOPIX and Sectoral Stock Indices

In this paper, we examined the changes in volatility overflow among the exchange rate of the Japanese yen (JPY), the Nikkei Stock Average (Nikkei), the Tokyo Stock Price Index (TOPIX) and the TOPIX sectoral indices for the period of 10 February 2016 to 24 March 2017. We employed the exponential generalised autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (EGARCH) model, the cross-correlation function, and the daily logarithmic returns of JPY, Nikkei, TOPIX and the TOPIX components with a weight of 5% and more in estimations (banks, chemicals, electric appliances, information and communication, machinery and transportation equipment indices). The findings highlighted causality in variance (volatility spillover) among the variables. We revealed that volatility could also spread indirectly among the variables (from one variable to another through a third variable). We demonstrated how the impact of news about the results of the Brexit referendum (BR) and the United States presidential election (USE) in 2016 might spread among the variables indirectly within a week.

How and What Influences from COVID-19 Have Impacted Stock Prices and Exchange Rates? the Case of Japan

This study reports the empirical analyzes of the COVID-19 on stock prices and exchange rates of Japan. Newly confirmed cases and death cases have significantly positive impacts on Japanese stock prices. One reason is that Japanese stock prices recently move together with U.S. stock prices. Under this situation, the U.S. could recover from the damage of COVID-19 ahead of other countries and its stock prices have increased hugely, so the effects on Japanese stock prices have been quite large. The rising of the U.S. stock prices have had a big influence so as to deny the adverse effects by COVID-19 in Japan. The other reason is that although the stock prices of tourism, food service, and so on were damaged in Japan, other industry stock prices have been increasing. The coefficients of declaration of the state of emergency/anti-infection measures are positive which denotes that the stock market may have taken the measure favorably. However, they are positive, but they are also insignificant. For the exchange rates, the newly confirmed case is significant and positive which means that it promotes depreciation of the Japanese Yen. It seems natural because if the situation of COVID-19 becomes serious, market participants consider investment in Japan as risky. Finally, both of the cases of confirmed cases and death cases of COVID-19 are negatively and significantly related with the flow of people. The coefficient of declaration of the state of emergency/anti-infection measures is negative, however, they are not significant to the flow of people.

An experimental comparison of rebate and matching in charitable giving: The case of Japan

This study uses a Japanese nationwide sample and experimentally compares rebate and matching, both of which are schemes intended to lower the price of monetary donation. Standard economic theory predicts that the two schemes will have the same effect on individuals’ donation behavior when their donation price is equivalent. However, we conduct an incentivized economic experiment through the Internet on 2300 Japanese residents, and find that matching, which lowers the donation price by adding a contribution from a third-party, increases individuals’ donation expenditures compared to rebate, which lowers it through a refund from a third-party. The experimental result shows that the donation expenditure in a 50% rebate treatment drops by approximately 126 Japanese yen compared to the control, while in a 1:1 matching treatment with essentially the same price of donation as the 50% rebate, the expenditure conversely rises by approximately 56 Japanese yen. This tendency is consistent with the results of previous experimental studies comparing the two schemes. We further empirically confirm that the superiority of 1:1 matching over 50% rebate is not conclusively influenced by the participants’ confusion or misunderstanding, or budget constraint lines’ difference between the two schemes. Although the Japanese government has previously enriched rebate’s content, the level of monetary donations by the Japanese people is still low on an international scale. Based on this study’s findings, we discuss the possibility that implementing matching into the society effectively encourages their donation behavior.

Regional disparity of certified teaching hospitals on physicians’ workload and wages, and popularity among medical students in Japan

Background Regional disparities in the working conditions of medical doctors have not been fully assessed in Japan. We aimed to clarify these differences in hospital characteristics: doctors’ workload, wages, and popularity among medical students by city population sizes. Methods We targeted 423 teaching hospitals certified by the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine and assessed the working conditions of physicians specializing in internal medicine. We calculated their workload (the annual number of discharged patients per physician) and retrieved data on junior residents’ monthly wages from the Resinavi Book which is popular among medical students in Japan to know the teaching hospital’s information and each hospital’s website. Furthermore, we explored the interim matching rate of each hospital as its popularity among medical students. Next, we classified cities in which all hospitals were located into eight groups based on their population size and compared the characteristics of these hospitals using a one-way analysis of variance. Results The average workload was 110.3, while the average workload in hospitals located in most populated cities (≥ 2,000,000) was 88.4 (p < 0.05). The average monthly wage was 351,199 Japanese yen, while that in most populated cities was 305,635.1 Japanese yen. The average popularity (matching rate) was 101.9%, and the rate in most populated areas was 142.7%, which was significantly higher than in other areas. Conclusions Hospitals in most populated areas had significantly lower workloads and wages; however, they were more popular among medical students than those in other areas. This study was the first to quantify the regional disparities in physicians’ working conditions in Japan, and such disparities need to be corrected.

Japan’s Rational Choice in Developing the Halal Industry

Nowadays, the halal industry has become a new trend in various regions of the world, including East Asia, which the majority of the population is not Muslim. This research will focus on the development of the halal industry in various segments and the reasons that underlie one of the Muslim minority countries in the East Asia Region, namely Japan, in developing the halal industry as a rational choice for its country. This study uses a qualitative method, where data are collected from semi-structured interviews and literature studies. The results of this study indicate that for non-Muslim countries, particularly Japan, to develop the Halal industry as a rational choice are due to several reasons, namely globalization, the fall of Japanese yen, demographics, and bilateral relations between Japan and neighboring countries. In the end, some of these reasons stimulate Japan to take action to boost its economy and gain the most beneficial option, one of which is by developing the halal industry to reach out to the Muslim market.

Peramalan Nilai Tukar Rupiah Terhadap Mata Uang Negara Asia Menggunakan Metode Quantum Neural Network

Currency is a standardized payment instrument used all around the world. Almost each country has their own currency, and it has a variable value. Asia is one of the biggest continent in the world. Most tourists whom visit Indonesia come from Asia. Thus, that makes the most currency exchanged in Indonesia are currencies from Asia. Currency exchange rate difference between one currency and another affected by several factor. One of those factor is inflation in its country. To overcome that issue, one needs a prediction system that can be used to predict the exchange rate of currencies in the future. Quantum Neural Network is used in this research to predict Indonesian Rupiah exchange rate value to other currency in Asia. Singapore, Hongkong and Japan currencies are particularly used in this research. Results obtained from this research are accuracies. Quantum Neural Network produces 99.78% accuracy on Singapore Dollar to Indonesian Rupiah exchange rate, 99.57% on Hongkong Dollar to Indonesian Rupiah, and 99.60% on Japanese Yen to Indonesian Rupiah.

Extreme volatility dependence in exchange rates

This paper aims to analyse asymmetric volatility dependence in the exchange rate between the British Pound, Japanese Yen, Euro, and Mexican Peso compared to the U.S. dollar during different periods of turmoil and calm sub-periods between (1994-2018). GARCH and TARCH models are employed to model conditional